Wednesday, January 4, 2006

New Year Sickies

Well, it looks like many in our family have rung in the new year in far less than perfect health. Richard is home today with a bad cold. His coughing has aggravated his back pain, even after taking some cough syrup with codeine.

He goes in Friday morning for his disk-o-gram with a CT scan to follow. The doctor said he will be in pain for two to three days following the procedure due to the pressure of the dye that will be injected.

He has been doing some research and found that the Texas Back Clinic is doing an experimental, FDA approved procedure of replacing the damaged disk instead of fusing it. It's been done in Europe for 17 years.

It looks very promising with people experiencing greater flexibility and less follow-up surgeries than the fusion method. The average age of those who have had it is 35. We're not sure if he has any osteoporosis which would automatically preclude him from having the surgery. He will discuss all his options when he goes in for a follow-up visit after Friday's procedures.

We hope and pray everyone is staying or getting healthy and will have a joyful and fulfilling new year.